Malaysia in Globalization: “We’re Accountable to Spend Money on Time”

Accountability and transparency, probably the most overused words when they are advocated for ideal governance. I mean ‘ideal’ because speech rhetoric often falls short of actual practice. Recall from my personal account when conducting industry analysis, something vital is always conspicuously missing when I research through government agencies for documented initiatives in promoting particular industries.

There is little doubt on the meticulous effort involved in developing government initiatives, some often take years to complete. But what happens during follow-up on implementation and execution stages really disappoints. There is hardly any key performance yardstick or documented outcome even after years in progress. As some government officials remarked to my colleague: “As our KPIs, we’re accountable to spend the budget on time.” When I really expect to hear that “We’re accountable for the outcomes from the money spent on time.”

It is no longer a secret that the lack of accountability and transparency has contributed to failed policies and corrupt practices in the country. When Najib became the new PM, accountability and transparency rang loudly from his public speeches and press release. He followed up to propose KPIs for ministries and agencies to judge their efficiencies in serving the public. We still cannot judge how these civil service units will transform and adopt a performance-driven culture before there is more concrete action in place. But for now, words are still louder than action. Recent updates on economic stimulus budget are announced on the basis that fund has been distributed to relevant agencies and certain amount has already been spent on projects, while positive impact should happen in near future…

“We’re accountable to spend money on time.”

Emphasis on initiatives but not outcomes is simply too prevalent and should change sooner. Tired as we may in hearing government officials to rhetorically advocate for accountability and transparency, their transformational impact in governance will never wane a bit. We may encounter occasional incidents of citizen uproar on questionable government deals and corrupt cases for now; but with advancing internet technology that promotes free speech and makes censorship problematic (recent protests against Iran’s election results and China’s plan to install filtering software in all PCs are prime examples), I really do not think citizens in information age can tolerate any more blatant opacity and lack of accountability. It is a bygone era. So now before more speeches, show some established performance metrics, accountable bodies, specific timeline and expected outcomes on all government initiatives. It is really nothing more than a basic expectation on accountability and transparency.